August 2014 General Membership Meeting

Aug 6

SRG General Membership Meeting Minutes

August 06, 2014

Meeting started at 7:06 PM

Board Members In Attendance: Jeremy Mehrle, Macy Mehrle, Nancy Kelly, Sean Cochran, Jill Weissgerber, Mike Ziemann, Michael Pastore, Beth Bennett, Luann Denten, Alecia Stellhorn

Guests: Bob Puricelli, Director of Development, Gene Slays Boys Club

Secretary’s Minutes
1. Approved
2. Board and General Membership Meeting Minutes are available in paper form as well as on soulard.org
3. $53.46 to print 75 copies of agenda and reports, printing costs are approximately $100 a month, over $1,000 a year
4. Show of hands for support to continuing printing copies of meeting minutes
  1. discussion over benefits of printing the minutes
  2. community values paper copies of minutes
  3. Place on back table, not every table
Treasurer’s Report
1. Approval postponed until next meeting when Treasurer is present
Police Report
1. Officer Brian Minn spoke
  1. copper thefts up
    1. take extra measures to secure rehab buildings
  2. spare tires stolen from jeeps
    1. suggestion to put a lock on your spare tire
  3. There has been an increasing number of dogs off leashes at Pontiac Park
    1. officers have been patrolling and speaking to offenders
  4. Caught a daytime burglar
    1. victim invited burglar in through craigslist and he returned later to steal possessions
    2. be careful with craigslist, meet people at public places, don’t invite strangers into your home
  5. Sub Station possibly moving to Soulard Market
    1. working with the city to try to move, get support, needs to be cleaned out
  6. Stats
    1. crime down 13%
    2. up in burglaries
    3. down in car thefts
Announcements
1. New Businesses Opened and Opening
  1. Mission Taco Opened at 9th & Lafayette on August 5
  2. Good Luck Bar & Grill on Victor & 9th
  3. New Pizzeria on 12th & Allen
  4. Wine and cheese store on 10th St., formerly Feraro’s
  5. Mad Art Gallery is now having Thursday evening trivia nights- details on blaster
    1. sign up for blaster at Soulard.org
2. Concert Series in the Park-Linda Kurdi
  1. Saturday, August 9th, Roland Johnson is performing 6 PM-9PM
  2. Volunteers at concession stand are Soulard School
    1. all tips and proceeds go toward the school
  3. Bandstand is available to reserve for concert, free to first reserved
3. Halfway to Mardi Gras Pub Crawl -23rd of August
  1. Details as of now: AB sponsoring, MGI produced pub crawl, 2 trolleys, free to participate, door prizes, attendance prizes

Old Business
1. Pontiac Park Art Screen Project- Richard Eaton
  1. Approval from city came in today, August 6th
  2. John Durnell and Linda Kurdi have been working with the artist, Mark Bunch of Wild Welding, he has installations at Frazier’s, Table (formerly the Stable) restaurants in Benton Park
    1. Many different concepts were thought of, art of Chief Pontiac was the best design, in honor of Pontiac Park
    2. 2 silhouettes of trees on doors, steel rods 6 feet tall welded to post across the top and the bottom, designs will be laser cut out of sheets of steel and welded onto the surface of the fence
    3. concrete broke ground today
    4. Plan to rededicate the park after art installation complete with local tribes
    5. cost of project is around $12,000

New Business
1. Boy’s Club Playground
  1. Bob Puricelli, Director of Development, Gene Slays Boys Club spoke
  2. publicly thanked and recognized SRG, Vicky Morris, Jeannie Kirby, Julie Dinkleman for work done on playground at Boy’s Club with Kaboom (playground providers/builders)
  3. On June 28, 2014 almost 300 volunteers showed up to build playground in 8 hours
2. MGF Grant Request
  1. SRG and SBA collaborated to write a grant request for $25,000 to install safety cameras throughout the neighborhood

Committee reports
1. Beautification-Richard Eaton
  1. Weed Warriors need help on August 9th, from 9 AM-12 PM at Pontiac Park
  2. Cookout at 1842 S. 9th for all new beautification members on August 15
  3. Garden Tour Updates
    1. Many thanks to volunteers, tour participants
  4. Art Auction will be held on October 3rd to sell art produced during the garden tour
2. Code & Zoning-Jay Gibbs
  1. 10th & Allen building has been purchased for renovation after several requests by the owners for demolishing
3. Communications-Jeremy Mehrle
  1. For announcements, email blaster@soulard.org
  2. Renaissance deadline is Thursday, September 18th, send articles to editor@soulard.org
  3. Thanks to Jeremy for redesign of website and blaster
4. Fundraising-Rick Dungey
  1. We have lost the Taste of St. Louis fundraiser, as it has moved to Chesterfield
  2. Oktoberfest is the 2nd weekend in October
5. Membership-Sean Cochran
  1. Social at SRG Station immediately following meeting
6. Residential Promotion-Luann Denten
  1. 4 designs being looked at for entry marker projects
  2. designs will be presented to SBA, SRG, and membership once decided upon
7. Safety-Bill Clendenin
  1. Circulating signature pages as statements to judges about impacts of crimes in the neighborhood
  2. Many thanks to participants and organizers at National Night Out
  3. Next Safety Committee Meeting is Monday, Aug. 25 at 7 p.m. at Soulard Station
8. Soulard Station-Sean Cochran
  1. no report
9. MGI-Gary Toribio
  1. Executive Summary delivered to General Membership Meeting